Communal Ethos on a Russian Émigré Web Site

AbstractThis paper analyses how participants on a Russian emigre Web site rhetorically construct a Russian communal ethos in cyberspace. This ethos emerges primarily through three activities: the creation of cultural and technical resources; the linking of other pages to the site; and the debate and dialogue on bulletin boards. Together these activities form a transnational rhetorical community on the Web that evokes deterritorialised notions of identity. Russian culture on the Web acquires a very global aspect, diversified by motifs and attitudes from a multiplicity of mobile participants. This new communal form is enabled by the robust nature of Web communication as well as the Web’s transgression of national and cultural boundaries, permitting the incorporation of diverse people and diverse rhetorics in the forming, contestation, and negotiation of Russian cultural identity.